


Two Dense Idiots in Love

by VenetianMasquerade



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternately titled: Let Itaru Game In Peace, Fluff, I have so much stuff I wanna write but writers block is a nightmare, M/M, Muku's also here but not enough to warrant a tag I think, Rated teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22569229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenetianMasquerade/pseuds/VenetianMasquerade
Summary: The title says it all. 4k words of these two trying to figure out feelings and annoying Itaru the entire way.
Relationships: Hyoudou Juuza/Settsu Banri
Comments: 18
Kudos: 230





	Two Dense Idiots in Love

“Hey Banri, how obvious can you be about your crush?” Itaru rudely interrupted, cutting Banri off on one of his daily Juza rants. They were both sitting on the couch in Itaru’s room, their normal gaming spot, a time which Banri took advantage of to complain to his friend. A second passed as the comment and its implications registered in Banri’s mind, a loading symbol practically appearing over his head. 

“WHAT?” His eyes snapped wide open as he shrieked, causing Itaru to wince and let go of his controlling with a clatter, leaving his character to die. Banri quickly scrambled to shut off the TV in order to gain the other man’s attention, and Itaru put his controller on his lap with a sigh as the screen went dark, giving him an annoyed look. 

“Hey I was playing on that-” 

“Shut up. What the hell did you just say?” Banri pointed accusingly at Itaru, who rolled his eyes. Gaming partner or not, Banri was extremely close to beating him up. He’s sure he could easily, the dude’s an office worker who plays video games in his free time. Hell _Muku_ could probably take him and he’d snap like a dry twig.

“I _said_ that you’re super obvious about your crush. Or do you expect me to believe that ‘his stupid face made me lose my game combo’ wasn’t you getting distracted over his smile. Or him asking to start a fight wasn’t just him giving you a compliment and since you’re an idiot you got flustered and didn’t know how to deal with it like a normal person so you punched him. TBH I’m getting tired of hearing you talk about how much you ‘hate him’ every time we hang out. Your denial’s getting kinda cringe.” Itaru rattled his points out like he was reading a pre-written list, and Banri tuned him out, his mind racing. What the hell? Settsu Banri did not have a crush. Inconceivable. What he _had_ was a rival. Juza, who made his blood boil when he looked at him, his heart beat faster, and his cheeks burn (out of anger, of course). That’s exactly what he told Itaru, who just gave him a look of pity that made Banri flush.

“The hell’s that look for, dumbass?” 

“Poor Juza.” Shaking his head, Itaru reached over to turn the TV back on with no further comment or explanation, signifying an end to the conversation, not that Banri was eager to keep it going. Mumbling under his breath, he picked up the controller and lost himself in the game, choosing to forget the entire conversation all together, and hopefully never have to bring it up again. 

\----------------

The next day Banri sat on the main room’s couch, playing a rhythm game on his phone. The television was on but muted, a dramatic story that appeared to have a plot twist every three minutes unfolding in front of him as he tried not to break his combo. He finished the final song with a perfect score as usual, and he celebrated it with a fist pump, noticing pink in the corner of his eye. Muku hovered nervously around where he sat, obviously wanting to talk with him about something but not knowing where to start, a book clutched tightly in his hands as he chewed on his bottom lip and bounced silently in place. Banri turned to Muku who reacted with a start, not knowing that his presence had already been noticed. 

“What’s up Muku?”

“Banri! Um, I know we don’t really talk, but I was reading this manga and this character totally seems like you…oh no you probably don’t care, you’re too cool for manga, why did I think this was a good idea. I’m just some trash, wasting your time. Why do I even exist if it’s just to bother people, what do I bring to this world oh god-” Rolling his eyes, Banri placed his phone down and then turned the tv off, giving Muku his full attention because he didn’t really want to listen to the kid go on a whole self deprecating rant. He gestured to the book in the universal hand motion of ‘here, hand it over.’

“Lemme see.” Ejected from his own thoughts, Muku stopped himself and fumbled to a bookmarked page with shaky hands, nearly dropping it. 

“R-right here.” Giving the book to Banri, he pointed a finger towards one of the characters, but Banri couldn’t see the resemblance (unless he happened to dye his hair, cut it, and also gain a scar) and so he looked at Muku, unimpressed. 

“What exactly about him reminded you of me?”

“Well, he’s a delinquent, first of all, and he’s always picking and winning fights. Plus he’s super popular, and the main love interest, and he’s good at everything-” As Banri listened to Muku excitedly go on and on about the character, he felt his ego swell with every compliment he received. “But even though he seems so cool and confident, when he’s around the MC, his crush, he totally gets super flustered.” 

“What? Since when have I acted like that?” 

“No offense Banri, but you aren’t that great about keeping that you like Ju-chan a secret…” His sentence began to trail off as he saw the expression on Banri’s face, making him look like he had just been told his worst enemy won a million dollars. When Banri saw Muku’s frightened reaction, he took a deep breath to calm himself, asking between clenched teeth:

“What. Makes. You. Think. That?” Closing his eyes, Muku crossed his arms as he started to recount past events, far quicker than Banri would have liked. 

“Well, yesterday Ju-chan let you try the dessert he was eating and your face got really red because you were embarrassed about sharing a spoon. I don’t think Ju-chan noticed because he was mostly looking at the dessert but I happened to be there and I saw it.” Muku paled and he began to mutter under his breath. “Oh no I sound like a stalker and a creep why do I open my mouth and dig myself into a hole like this god I’m such a bad person butting into people’s lives-”

“I wasn’t red from embarrassment, you just have an overactive imagination. It was anger from being babied like that.” Muku looked unconvinced by his excuse, his face slowly gained color as he digested what Banri said. 

“Banri...I-I don’t mean to be rude but, um, in everything I’ve ever read someone reacting with a blush to a moment like that is pretty romantic...I think…” 

“W-Well...” Banri protested in a strangled voice, Muku’s wide, innocent eyes staring holes into him. He didn’t know why he felt so defensive, it was probably that _stupid_ conversation he had with Itaru the other day. No matter what other people say, he knew himself the best, and if he said it was anger it was anger. And maybe he was a little embarrassed that Juza insisted they eat from the same spoon because it was “better for the environment,” but he wasn’t _flustered_ like some characters from the lame shoujo that Muku read. Scrambling off of the couch, he towered over Muku in an attempt to intimidate him, which was slightly negated by the pink dusted across his face, but the young boy took a step back anyways, a worried expression flashing over his face. 

“Muku, I don’t care if you’re like five, I’ll still fight you.”

“I’m fourteen-”

“The hell are you doing with Muku, Settsu?” Banri spun on his heel to face the worst person to have entered the dorms through the front door at this moment. Juza had just stepped into the main area and was currently giving Banri a deathly glare, as if daring him to lay a hand on his cousin.

“What? You wanna fight?” Banri shoved his hands in his pockets before giving Juza a cocky smile, trying to rile him up. Instead, Juza just squinted his eyes in suspicion, before moving his gaze to Muku. 

“We were just talking about this manga I was reading, Ju-chan.” Muku picked up his manga with a sweet smile, showing Juza the cover, receiving a nod and a soft smile that made Banri’s stomach weird. The smile soon melted away, replaced by the frown he sported regularly. 

“I’m not gonna fight you, Settsu. And you’re acting weird anyways.” With that, Juza turned and made his way to the dorms, leaving the two behind to their own devices. Once he was out of earshot, Muku gave a bright smile that was soon becoming synonymous to a bad conversation for Banri. 

“See, look! Your face is all red after almost being caught by your crush when you were talking about them! Just like on page fifteen book six when Sa-” Tuning him out, Banri briskly walked out of the room, face still burning, not wanting to listen to Muku prattle on and on about things that definitely _weren’t_ true and were just the subject of his overactive imagination. 

\----------------

“Why do people even think I like him? Has everyone here gone blind or something?” Banri was currently complaining to Itaru, who was trapped by the fact that he was playing a game with him and so there was no choice but to listen. The mashing of the controller buttons got louder and more aggressive as his temper flared. “Like, he’s not even my _type._ He has purple hair! It’s a nice color, but it’s not my favorite, and like it works with him and everything but like, come _on_ it’s purple. Plus, he’s always glaring as if he wants to pick a fight with everyone, like it makes him look cool. He has a dumb smile that he does after I’m nice to him, as if me doing the bare minimum is that good. Sometimes he talks in his sleep about sweets, which is a pretty obvious favorite of his so I don’t even know why he bothers trying to hide it. He has really nice skin, which may sound weird, but it’s weirdly soft considering I didn’t think he knew about skincare. When he’s focusing on a script in our room he scrunches his face into this expression of, like, concentration, but it just makes him look a bit silly-”

“Holy shit, are you hearing yourself speak?” A “Dungeon Complete” flashed victoriously across the screen as Itaru placed his controller on his lap with a huff, turning to face Banri, eyes wide in disbelief and exasperation. 

“What do you mean? I was just answering your question!” Itaru slapped a palm to his forehead and slowly dragged it down his face, looking up towards the ceiling. Muttering a few curses under his breath, he glared at Banri. 

“No, what you were doing was practically explaining why you like him. I can’t believe you’re this oblivious to your own emotions.” Clenching his hands into fists, cheeks pink, Banri glared daggers into the man sitting next to him who was currently raising an eyebrow at the denial he expected to hear. 

“How many times do I have to repeat this. I. Don’t. Like. Hyodo.” Itaru placed his head in his hands, before slowly raising it back up to look at Banri in pure desperation. 

“Banri, I am begging you just think about it for a few seconds. Connect the dots. PLEASE. You’re supposed to be smart, for the love of god.” Banri simply grunted in reply, too distracted by the start of the video game to think about his question, and Itaru sighed before picking up his remote and joining the fight. The rest of the evening was devoid of any Juza related conversation, much to Itaru’s relief. 

\----------------

When Banri got back to his room later that night, he was greeted with the sight of Juza’s back as he worked on his homework at a desk. At first Banri thought to call out and provoke him, just so they could fight a bit, but decided against it when he remembered the chances that Sakyo might hear and reprimand them. Also, he didn’t really feel like interacting with Juza after the conversations he had with Itaru and Muku that put weird thoughts in his mind. And so, with neither of them acknowledging each other, Banri slowly climbed into bed, waiting for sleep to take him in its grasp. 

It was 12:30, and sleep had yet to take Banri in its grasp. Instead, he lay in bed, tossing and turning, and it was all Juza’s fault. His dumb face kept appearing whenever Banri closed his eyes, and his mind kept on wandering to their previous interactions. Finally, Banri had had enough. If sleep wouldn’t come, why bother lying in bed thinking about stupid things when he could do something productive, like levelling up with Itaru who was certainly still awake. He could just sleep in when he wanted to, after all it’s not like he _needs_ to go to school. Mind made up, Banri began to leave the room when he noticed that Juza hadn’t moved from his seat at the desk. In fact, judging from the light snores, he had fallen asleep. Banri creeped closer to his figure, not wanting to wake him up, but definitely wanting to snap some pics. Hell, if his sleeping face was all drooly and ugly, that’s bonus teasing material. But when his face came into view, those thoughts vanished. There wasn’t any drool, and he looked calm and almost...peaceful. His forehead was smoothed out, and his mouth was slightly open as his cheek squished into one of the arms crossed out underneath his head. As Banri stared, captivated, Juza shifted, and cursing under his breath he backpedaled away. However his racing heart slowed when Juza clearly was just moving in his sleep, and Banri moved back just in time to hear him softly mutter: 

“Chocolate…”. He couldn’t help but let out a light snort of laughter, of course he was thinking of sweets even in his dreams. Such a scary guy, who beat _him_ in a fight, and here he was falling asleep while doing homework and having dreams about chocolate. It was kind of... _cute._ It took awhile for that thought to process in his brain, but when it did, he almost got whiplash from jerking his head away from Juza’s, an incredulous expression on his face. Checking to make sure Juza still wasn’t awake, Banri’s mind raced as he thought once again about what he had been told Muku and Itaru, the conclusion making his heart beat so loud in his chest he almost checked once more to make sure it hadn’t woke Juza up. Well, that made everything make a lot more sense, he supposes. How could he have been so stupid? With those final remarks to himself, he took off running to his original destination of Itaru’s room, this time not caring if anyone woke up. 

\----------------

If people didn’t hear his footsteps racing through the hallway, they certainly would have heard the door that he swung open then slammed shut to Itaru’s room, much to the dismay of the other man who was, of course, currently playing a game. Putting down his controller as a victory flashed across the screen, Itaru walked over to where Banri was standing, holding a finger up to his mouth.

“Be _quiet._ Do you want Sakyo to wake up and investigate? If he finds me up playing games, or you in here, he’ll _gut_ us bro. I need to keep my top rank!” 

“I have a crush on Hyodo.” Banri replied in a harsh whisper, causing Itaru’s hand to fall to his side and his mouth to hang open, before he quickly collected himself. Crossing his arms, he gave Banri a smirk with the smug air of someone who just won a bet and came to get their money. 

“Told you so~”

\----------------

“Okay, so his smile? It’s sort of rare but like whenever he’s relaxed or happy he does it unconsciously and wow. He’s so pretty smiling. Not that he isn’t pretty not smiling, but when he smiles? Wow. God why did I ever think I was angry when he smiled, is it even possible to be looking at him? And just the way he loves sweets while also being such an intimidating dude is just really, really cute. He’s just really, really cute. And hot. He’s super hot. I mean, the glare, his slicked back hair, everything really. Man, I wonder what he looks like with his hair not all gelled and stuff. Actually maybe not I might die when I see it. Oh my god I like him so much it’s unreal.” 

“Could you _please_ shut up, I’m begging you.” From where he was lying on the floor, Banri turned his head with a frown to face Itaru.

“I thought you wanted me to realize I had a crush on Juza.”

“Yeah, but if I had known that it would lead to you talking about him more, I would have never helped you.” 

“Oh shut _up._ That was yesterday and this is right now, and right now I’m talking about Juza and you’re listening.”

“Get out of my room.” Banri gave an affronted gasp, even going as far as to raise his hand dramatically to his chest, which made Itaru roll his eyes. “You heard me. It’s almost morning anyways and I’ve heard enough about how you’d let Juza beat you in a fight on purpose.” As little as Banri wanted to go back into his room and see Juza again, he couldn't help but notice the exhaustion blanketing over him, and so he got up from where he was lying on the ground accompanied with a large yawn. Staggering down the hallway, he made his way to his room, flopping down on his bed and falling asleep almost instantly. 

\----------------

Banri’s never confessed to anyone before, he’s only had experience being confessed _to_ (not that that’s a bad thing). Of course, he did want to deal with the Juza crush situation, but he wasn’t going to just change his track record and veer off the path of what he was comfortable with. No, instead he would make Juza fall in love with him, confess, and then boom. Boyfriend time. But that was easier said than done Banri soon discovered, as in the making of his master plan he forgot to weigh in the fact that Juza was denser than a bag of bricks. 

He’s pressed up against him _way_ more times than necessary, but didn’t even get a gift of acknowledgement. He’s taken as many liberties as he can to get shirtless in front of him, but Juza doesn’t even give him a second glance, which was a little rude in Banri’s opinion. He even got so desperate as to use a pickup line that _Itaru_ recommended, who was wise enough to lock his door when Banri realized that he had been recording the whole scene, including the weirded out stare that Juza had given him which lead to Banri’s graceful retreat (or as Itaru would say: “running away like a chicken”). So Banri just sat angrily in his bed, angry at Itaru for being an ass and angry at Juza for being so unobservant. Because of that, he wasn’t paying attention, and thereby didn’t notice Juza standing there for a while before he decided to speak up. 

“Hey.” Banri let out an undignified noise of surprise before turning a glare towards Juza.

“What do you want.” Juza shuffled in place before he started to speak, only taking a few seconds but the awkward silence feeling like eternity.

“You’re acting weird with me and I wanted to know what’s up. Did I do something? Is this a prank?” Banri stared, his glare melting into a mix of confusion in embarrassment. Of course Juza would notice, but just his luck that he would notice for the wrong reasons. This was a stupid idea, and Banri was starting to regret whatever in him had thought it was a good one. He should’ve just kept all his feelings inside until they died or he did.

“I’m not acting weird. You are.” Brilliant. Just brilliant. Juza definitely won’t think anything’s up with such a natural response. 

“No, you are acting weird, like just now.” Wonderful! 

“Your mom’s acting weird.” Wow. Banri needed to leave five minutes ago. Hopping off the bed as quickly as he can and making sure to shoulder check Juza out of spite on the way out, he runs out the door, hoping that enough time had passed for Itaru to feel comfortable enough to unlock his door. 

\----------------

“Your mom? Lmao, really? Are we sure you’re seventeen and not twelve?” 

“Itaru you said the same thing to me a week ago.” Itaru shrugged, not taking his eyes off the tv screen as he furiously clicked buttons on his controller.

“Well this isn’t about me, is it?” Banri considered getting up from the spot he had taken on the rooms unused bed and smacking him with a pillow, but that would require more effort and energy than he deserved. 

“I’m going to live here now. I’m never talking to him again.” This time Itaru did look at him with a smug smirk, and Banri started to reconsider his stance on pillow hitting. 

“Is this your first time getting rejected? You’re acting like a teenage girl.” 

“I didn’t get _rejected,”_ Banri spluttered, “Dumbass Hyodo didn’t even notice I was flirting with him!” 

“Uh, Banri-”

“You can’t get rejected by someone unless they know what they’re doing, and in Hyodo’s case he wouldn’t know unless I said straight into his face that I liked him and he’s one of the hottest guys I know.”

A strangled noise came from the door that didn’t sound anything like Itaru, who was being oddly quiet for someone who loved to voice his thoughts on the whole “Juza and Banri” situation. Turning to face the door, Banri certainly didn’t expect to lock eyes with one Juza Hyodo. Just perfect. 

Banri couldn’t exactly run to Itaru’s room, he already did that a few minutes ago, which led to _this_ situation. And he couldn’t go to the room that he and Juza _share._ So instead he settled with the third option which was to dig his face into the pillow in a half-hearted attempt to suffocate himself, and just forget everything that happened. Unfortunately it wasn't going great, what with Itaru's cackles in the background, but he was used to ignoring the other man. What was the saying that went something like: “If you believe in something hard enough, it will come true?” Yeah. That’s what Banri was doing. 

“This is just a bad dream. This is just a bad dream. This is just a bad dream. This is just a bad-”

“Banri?”

“God dammit.” He slowly lifted his head up off of the pillow in order to look at the face that he knew would be there. Juza looked back, blushing a bit, and Banri quickly turned around, not wanting to think of the connotations of _that._

“Banri, look at me.” 

“I don’t need to if I know what you’re gonna say.” 

“And what is that?” God will he just go _away_ already?

“Something along the lines of ‘wow I’m flattered but I don’t feel that way,’ or whatever. It’ll just be trying to let me off without hurting my feelings. But you can just leave me alone and it’ll get the same point across.” Of course his idiot brain figured now would be the best time to cry, and Banri furiously blinked back hot tears. He didn’t want to embarrass himself even more. 

“What if that’s not what I want to say?”

What the fuck. “What the fuck?” Banri jerked himself up and twisted over to look at Juza, who was much closer than he would have expected. He instinctively shot backwards, hitting his head on the wall and cursing loudly. Rubbing the back of his head with his hand, he lightly pushed Juza away with the other one. “Let’s do this down there where there’s more rooms. Shockingly, Juza obliged and it took little effort to get him down the ladder. With all the excitement Banri forgot to multitask and tears started to flood his eyes, making his sight all blurry. 

“Are you okay?” Why does Juza have to be so _nice_ right now, it’s annoying. 

“I’m not crying, fuck you.” Banri said between shuddery breaths. Juza surprisingly looked unconvinced. “What did you just say?”

“Are you okay?”

“No, before that, dumbass.” 

“Don’t feel offended, being mean is his defense mechanism.” Wiping away tears, Banri glared at Itaru.

“Why the fuck are you still here?”

“ _This is my room.”_ He couldn’t really argue with that so he just threw a pillow. Direct hit. 

“Alright that’s it. You guys have your teenage drama moment somewhere else, preferably your own room, I have to grind.” And that’s what led to Juza and Banri being unceremoniously left to hang awkwardly in the hallway. 

“Uh-” Banri held up a hand to stop Juza.

“We are not having this conversation out here.”

“Fair point.” The walk to their room wasn’t the chattiest experience of his life, but he had other things to think about. Like what the hell Juza was going to say to him. Closing the door behind them, Banri spun to face Juza. Sure, his red eyes probably weren’t helping his intimidation case, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to back down because of it. 

“Now answer my question, _what did you mean?”_ Juza placed his hands in his pockets, refusing to meet Banri’s gaze. 

“What I meant was…” He trailed off, looking to the left in apparent embarrassment. Banri felt annoyed. 

“Well? Spit it out Hyodo.”

“I like you too.” It came out a little fast, but it still hit Banri like a truck. He just sat there, eyes wide open as he processed it.

“Huh?” 

“Yeah, for a while now.” He shrugged his shoulders as if it were the most simple statement yet.

“I’ve been flirting with you for a week Hyodo.” He shrugged again. This ass caused Banri so much trouble by being an idiot. 

“So have I.” What. “It’s ‘better for the environment.’ Really Banri? Kazunari overheard me and didn’t let go of it for days. I thought you’d noticed and instead of confronting me were being passive aggressive.” 

“We’re both idiots.” Banri groaned, burying his face into his hands. A second passed, and then two. 

“So are we boyfriends now?” 

“I would hope so after this whole conversation.” Banri lifted his head up, staring at Juza who was looking rather cute and bashful for a guy who’s beaten Banri up on multiple occasions. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Huh? I mean yes o-” The rest of Juza’s sentence was cut short by Banri flinging himself at him, pressing their lips together as he practically sat on his lap. 

“I’ve wanted this for way longer than I’ve realized.”


End file.
